The Nation Newspaper

Category: Wednesday

  • Harris vs Trump: From the outside looking in

    Harris vs Trump: From the outside looking in

    A week from today Americans would have elected the successor to Joe Biden as president. It would either be incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump. Whoever the winner is, this is one election that has put the paradoxes, contradictions and hypocrisies of the United States on full display globally.

    Trump, the Republican Party candidate, built his entire campaign largely on an anti-immigrant theme, stoking fears that grubby foreigners were overrunning the country. Thanks to his efforts, a nation of immigrants has turned full circle, with half its population believing that their troubles are down to hordes from the four corners of the earth. I wonder how native Americans would have felt when Trump’s forebears landed from Germany, Scotland or wherever.

    Truly, the world is changing and we are seeing this same anti-immigrant sentiment sweep across Europe – installing hostile governments in countries that used to be so welcoming to outsiders.

    Trump played this card perfectly in 2016 with the promise of building a wall along the US’ southern border to keep out those arriving from Mexico and the rest of Latin America. He’s reprising the rhetoric in the belief it worked in the past. When he goes to the border for photo ops it’s clear which immigrants he’s targeting.

    That’s why his enduring support among Latinos is so intriguing. The more he demeans, threatens and humiliates them, the more they fawn over him. Many think his hate campaign isn’t directed at them because they are already resident in the States. Yes, the possession of a Green Card may keep them safe from Trump’s promised mass deportations, but it doesn’t shield them from day to day profiling.

    America used to be held up as a moral country with strong Christian foundations. It’s founding fathers fled to the new land from England to escape religious persecution. Now it’s on the verge of possibly opening the doors of the White House to a convicted felon, a man serially accused of predatory conduct, a known philanderer, a divorcee and proven racist. None of these things matter to his gung-ho supporters.

    Throughout its history the US has wrestled with its Christian conscience, and not always successfully. One unique example of that struggle is the civil war that split the country into two halves. The Southern confederates believed the Bible backed their practice of keeping slaves. The Federal side under President Abraham Lincoln thought it ungodly for a man to keep his fellow human enslaved – no matter their colour or station.

    Slavery didn’t end in America through moral suasion but by military conquest of the South. That’s perhaps the reason why slavery didn’t end discrimination. The practice was abolished in 1865 and in principle blacks – at least the male – were allowed to vote. But for many decades all manner of restrictions and hurdles were placed in the path of people of colour, to ensure they couldn’t really exercise this right until the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. Up till today, the age old scheming to suppress minority votes hasn’t stopped.

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    Race has always been a powerful undercurrent in US politics and it’s one reason why no black man was ever elected president until Barack Obama’s landmark victory in 2008. Despite that historic achievement, he would spend the bulk of his presidency fending off attacks suggesting he wasn’t really American. At the head of the birther campaign was Trump; once again, showing his true racist colours. It’s no surprise that at some point during the campaign he found it necessary to question whether Harris was black or Asian.

    Ageism was an issue when Joe Biden was still the Democratic Party candidate. But race came raging back once Harris – a woman of colour – was installed in his place. That undercurrent has dogged the race ever since; so much so that after Trump’s recent Madison Square Garden event one major newspaper – Daily News – ran a huge tabloid headline tagging it the ‘Racist Rally.’

    But the race factor cuts both ways with black voter turnout in support of Harris expected to be critical in determining the outcome. That’s not to say it would go 100% her way. Just like the Latinos, despite Trump’s disparaging remarks about their race, a significant number of black men back him ostensibly because they think he is stronger, and would do a better job on the economy.

    That the race is so close is blamed in part on widespread dissatisfaction with Biden’s stewardship on the economy. Inflation has triggered a cost of living crisis that’s making many to look back with nostalgia at the Trump years.

    For an outsider looking in it’s hard to believe that issues of morality and character are not a priority for Americans. They are more concerned with who will impact their pockets more positively. If it takes a crook to fix the economy so be it.

    That’s not surprising. At the height of the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal in 1998, it seemed certain then President Bill Clinton would be impeached and removed from office. Despite his moral flaws and being caught in a lie or two, he remained popular with the electorate, and clung to power by the skin of his teeth because the economy was booming under him.

    The notion of the American Dream is that nothing is unattainable if you are ready to work for it. That’s why glass ceilings have been shattered in every area except politics – especially the office of president. Hillary Clinton came closest by winning the most votes in 2016, only to be denied by the peculiar Electoral College requirements. It is evident that Harris has learnt some lessons from the disappointment of eight years ago and tried to run a different kind of campaign. It remains to be seen whether she can overcome latent gender prejudices to reach her goal.

    It is amazing that a country which fancies itself leader of the free world just can’t seem to scale this hurdle. This is long after Israel made Golda Meir Prime Minister in 1969; the United Kingdom installed Margaret Thatcher head of government in 1979; and Angela Merkel became German Chancellor in 2005. None of these remarkable women could be described as weak: they held their own against male counterparts from around the world. Perhaps this would be the year when America breaks the mould.

    For decades American democracy was admired across the world as the near-perfect model for governance. Such admiration was why countries like Nigeria embraced the presidential system. Part of what made the US model attractive was the seamless way in which contests were conducted. Electoral hanky-panky was unheard of and losers conceded defeat with grace.

    That was until Trump happened to America. Ever since, denialism and concerted attacks on every pillar of democracy have been the features of his political ideology. When he talks of American decline, he speaks mainly in economic and military terms. But we see before our very eyes a great democracy approaching its next electoral contest with so much tension and uncertainty.

    Even before a vote was cast allegations of electoral fraud were already flying around and there’s widespread expectation the former president won’t concede if he loses. You could be forgiven if you thought we are talking of some Third World contest. It’s a measure of how far America has fallen that when next a delegation from that country arrives these parts to lecture us on how things are done, they would probably be told: ‘look who’s talking!’

  • EducareTrust@30: Youth centre per ward please

    EducareTrust@30: Youth centre per ward please

    Educare Trust has worked in the largely underfunded field of youth education and health since October 20, 1994 i.e. 30 years on October 20 with the help of financial support from many corporate and individual donors of their time, talent and treasure. Thank you all. How and why did Educare Trust start? Has the journey been worth it? Where did we pass and where did we fail? What did we learn?

    Some Fellow Nigerians come together to set up Educare Trust (ET) at the inception of the despicable Abacha regime when ‘Youth Education and Health’ were in need under an increasingly oppressive and corrupt regime.

    During that 30-year period of time ET has impacted in millions of youth in and out of school and also impacted the general public in health, democracy, morals in general as well as addressing certain social vices like drugs and corruption and policy matters. At 30 years of experience, we at Educare Trust have the right and knowledge to have an opinion.

    Educare Trust notes a need for a redirection of Corporate Social Responsibility structure and application. We must interrogate what quality and quantity of CSR is done, under-done or left undone. Nigeria must demand more CSR and change from being seen as the ‘generous gift’ from Corporate Nigeria and preserve of corporate headquarters to being much more widely appreciated and felt by Nigerians.  Devolution of CSR from headquarters activities to distributors, company branches in towns and villages. Has any corporate used its ‘Army of Employees’ as a ‘Corporate Staff CSR Army’ to ‘DOMESTICATE CSR’ to the grassroots by taking CSR material back to their neighbourhoods and villages? Corporate Nigeria should, therefore, educate and recruit the workforce to the CSR battle. Imagine 1000 books or balls or scholarship offers being taken from the office by 1000 employees to the needy youth in their neighbourhoods.

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    In a nation with10+m out of school youth, Corporate Nigeria must adhere to the recommendation of 1% of pre-tax profits allocated to CSR and choose between the valueless N20m bill advert billboard with a football on it or helping to service N10m worthwhile purchase of footballs, books or music equipment for many of the 10million out-of-school children. Lagos outdoor adverts alone would take 10million out of school children back in school. We need a 10%s CSR surcharge on adverts. Educare Trust recommends that every effort from stock market and industry CSR prizes, monitoring and recognition be employed to encourage or force companies to improve the impact of their CSR footprint nationwide. Corporate CSR Record should be a compulsory part of every corporate application portfolio for a contract. 

    Educare Trust asked: ‘Where do the youth of Nigeria congregate safely in their community?’ We created an Educare Trust Youth Exhibition Centre (ETEC) in 1998 for that purpose. Children, in and out of school, would come by after school, put their sale items like oranges, bananas, groundnuts and cautiously come into the ETEC where they would be exposed to the first computers at the time by typing their name, a microphone to sing or read a poem or give a talk, a stage to perform a play, games like scrabble and chess, interactions with others and, of course, conflict management library books and educational and informational posters on every subject imaginable for A to Z including career choices. As they leave, we would buy their wares and share them among the students so they would not be punished at home. 

    How did we monitor the effectiveness of our Educare Trust programme? Simple. The smile on the faces of the children leaving the centre and the fact that they return again and again, eventually learning a skill, a hobby or discovering a talent they never knew they had. Eventually they would be showcasing that talent before an audience of appreciative peers, coaches and professional experts around and beyond Ibadan to inspire in Meet-The Expert sessions. We had many inspiring guests that included High Commissioners and Ambassadors including HC Sir and Lady Graham Burton who became Life Patrons. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was a guest. We encouraged the explosive growth of the after-school and out-of-school enquiring minds and cerebral needs of over one million visitors. Educare Trust concluded that the Nigerian society urgently requires Youth Centres to guide and empower the youth.      

    Having established need for Youth Centres, Educare Trust asked ‘How many youth centres are required in Nigeria?’ The ward is the political unit of the country. A youth centre should be within easy distance. It was not nuclear physics for Educare Trust to conclude that Nigerian Youth require an educational ‘ONE YOUTH CENTRE PER WARD’. Just like the health related ‘ONE PRIMARY HEALTH CENTRE PER WARD’. Some want to start at one per LGA but that is merely a beginning but not the Gold Standard.

    From inception, Educare Trust proposed the CAP – COMMON ACTIVITY PERIOD, in secondary schools, to improve co-curricular activities. This was accepted by Oyo State. The current CAP should be energised to be more competitive between schools with zonal and state prizes to encourage competitive creativity, co-curricular activities, and more constructive use of the CAP.

    Secondary School Old Students Associations which should be applauded and rewarded with prizes for best OSA by Zone and STATE. Educare Trust asks: ‘Why does government not encourage/insist that PRIMARY SCHOOL OLD STUDENTS ASSOCIATIONS be started to bring similar success at no cost to government?’

  • Network and power failures

    Network and power failures

    Apart from commercial banks, which have been running away with astronomical profits, the years 2023 and 2024 have been tumultuous years for businesses in Nigeria, leading some to move from the country. The reasons are not far-fetched. They include the devaluation of the Naira, due to the floating of the exchange rate; repeated hikes in the prices of petroleum products because of the removal of fuel subsidy; and high inflation, resulting from the above developments.

    It is understandable, therefore, why the trio of telephone service providers in Nigeria, MTN, Airtel, and Glo, have been suffering major losses in revenue since 2023. Their operation is further complicated by the introduction of value-added tax on tower leases in the 2023 Finance Act and repeated power grid failures, leading to power failure in many parts of the country. Nevertheless, despite these harsh conditions these telephone service providers have continued to make some profit.

    Unfortunately, consumers bear the brunt of their losses, which are passed to them in the form of poor services. Telephone calls don’t go through. Messages hang or are not delivered. Images fail to load. Yet, even for such unsuccessful deliveries, you may lose credit or data. The result is the frequency of usages, such as ‘poor’ or ‘no network’; ‘network problem;’ and ‘network failure’ among others. No promotional giveaways, such as ‘20% more data’ or ‘100% awoof credit or data’ could compensate for these inadequacies.

    Yet another reason for these problems is oversubscription by the service providers. For example, as many as 1000 users may be subscribed to a service node meant for 500 users. There is also the problem of poor equipment maintenance. For example, someone living near a mast told me that no one had come there to inspect it for over three years! Again, consumers suffer the consequences of such neglect.

    These inadequacies are particularly felt in online banking. Bank Apps crash or do not work due to network failure. Of course, commercial banks create other problems for their customers. For example, it sometimes takes hours, even days, for transferred funds to show up in the beneficiary’s account, despite instant debit of the payer’s account. Sometimes, the funds don’t even show up at all and repeated calls to the bank may yield no result until you go to a branch yourself. Worse still, ATM machines are often terribly slow, because most of them are outdated. Besides, only 10 Naira maximum is dispensed in most cases. Moreover, you often pay charges for the number of withdrawals you make.

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    The problem with network failure in Nigeria is part of a huge structural problem. The telephone service providers seem to be piggybacking on the failure of supervision by appropriate government agencies. It is also possible that, where supervision does take place, sanctions are compromised by corruption. Not a few think that the Bobrisky case and its investigations are similarly compromised.

    Yet, there are many questions waiting to be answered by the service providers and the supervising agencies of the government. For example, given the existing capacity of installed equipment, how many subscribers could each provider effectively carry without overload? How extensive is each provider’s 4G coverage? This is an important question because data download often slows down or fails completely whenever coverage drops to 3G or below on any service provider’s network.

    The truth is that we may not be able to take part effectively in the digital revolution if telephone service providers continue to perform below average. Yet our participation is critical not just for individual telephone services but also for the benefit of our institutions, especially educational and health institutions. Network connectivity is critical to digital success in these institutions. For example, college students and medical doctors learn a lot these days from online resources.

    The above observations have serious implications for the economy. So does frequent power failure. According to available data, there are about 27 grid-connected generating plants currently in operation in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) with a total installed power generation capacity of about 13,000-15,000 MW and an available capacity of just over 5,000 MW. This is a far cry from the estimated 35,000 MW needed for a population of 250 million people.

    By contrast, Brazil, with comparable population, climate, and structure of government, has an installed power generation capacity of 150,000 MW and available capacity of at least 130,000 MW! Yet the government plans to add 6000 MW of capacity every year to satisfy growing demand from an increasing and more prosperous population. That is why the government aims at investing over $100 billion over the next five years on power generation, transmission, and distribution. What is even more interesting about Brazil’s energy structure is its diversification. While Nigeria relies on natural gas and hydropower, Brazil derives its energy from a variety of sources—fossil (oil, coal, and natural gas); and renewable (hydropower, wind, and solar). Brazil did not arrive at this level in one day. It is all a result of careful planning and effective implementation from government to government.

    That is why the combination of power and network failures needs urgent attention from the government.

  • Tinubu education stimulus, not varsity

    Tinubu education stimulus, not varsity

    How many millions of Fellow Nigerian Citizens bombarded their representatives with petitions and tsunamis of social media messages demanding they reach a decision that among the most urgent needs of the citizenry in the immediate three-year future of this regime are a Bola Ahmed Tinubu Federal University of Nigerian Languages-BATFUNL OR BATFUONL and weaponisation of the FRSC?

    Yes, a similar event occurred for Muhammadu Buhari Federal University of Transport, Daura. But two wrongs may make a harmful tradition, just like female genital mutilation, but they do not make a right. Even that university is referred to as FUTD not MBFUTD. Will BATFUNL or BATFUONL become FUNL?  The premature naming with Buhari’s name was a political aberration and mistake and a red flag cautionary tale ‘DO NOT REPEAT’ to the current NASS and not a shameful example of ‘precedence’ to be exploited, repeated, and boasted about.

    Historically, a university is conceived, built and born and then named generically-science, marine- or geographically -Ibadan, Jos- at birth. Later as it grows to adulthood, sometimes it attracts a ‘popular’ demand for a new name after a personality, far too often a milito-politician, too often of questionable reputation. It annoys Nigerians that so many buildings, roads and institutions have been named after those failing the ethical yardstick.

    To buttress the point that naming buildings usually occurs post-delivery, it has taken 38 years for Nigeria to decide that a relevant federal structure, the National Theatre Iganmu, Lagos Stadium, already built since 1977, be named after Nigeria’s Nobel Prize winner Professor Wole Soyinka, who won the prize in 1986, 38years ago! 

    There was a time we fought to ban chieftaincy titles being awarded to officials before they left office. How come we are suddenly having federal building projects, named before the construction and delivery and before the politicians have adequately performed? We are used to their prolonged multi-year gestation period and repeatedly postponed delivery, copying NNPC PLC and our repeatedly failing Turn Around Maintenance targets.

    Frankly, Nigerians are tired and insulted when their people’s government property are being misappropriated and misnamed by the transient political class seeking perpetuity for mundane performances. When President Tinubu has run his political presidential course and his exam results are in, it will be the people, not the politicians, demanding we name the fourth Lagos Bridge and the Lagos Calabar Highway in his honour. This preconception of a naming ceremony goes against the traditions in Nigeria. Political pride may make it happen but it is a tasteless political pettiness.

    President Tinubu is not deceived by such political sycophancy. There are many linguists who have fought since the 50s for education in the various mother tongues who qualify to have universities named after them, but when they are built.  Named universities also face possible future discriminatory neglect by opposition governments.

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    In Nigeria, it is ethnically wrong to name an unborn baby. Similarly, naming of buildings or things at prefunding, preconception, pre-birth stages of development in a country well known for its criminal budgetary and savage political neglect may be futile gesture if delivery never takes place. Many good people with roads named after them are disappointed at the subsequently neglected roads associated with their family name.  In Oyo State, the current PDP governor, Seyi Makinde named the University of Technology, Ibadan set up under his APC predecessor after the predecessor Governor Ajimobi. Nobody objected.

    What is the guarantee that the traditional budgetary and political neglect and manipulation, mentioned above, will not also plague the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Federal University of Nigerian Languages-BATFUNL OR BATFUONL? Or is the [mis]use of the president’s name just to get the project, profits and ‘presidential padding’ with no questions asked? 

    Nigeria has thousands of contracts deemed complete but incomplete or non-existent creating phantom projects, e.g phantom roads and bridges, but the real money was always fully paid to phantoms contractors and their phantom political partners. So, what hope for this university?   

    However, in our massively underfunded education system, is there even space for a special University for Nigerian Languages of which Google says we have approximately 525. Let us recall the education crime against Nigerian children – causing brain deficit of 40+ years of EXCRUCIATING EDUCATIONAL ECONOMIC NEGLECT from ‘political negligence’ suffered by federal universities, Unity Schools, the unforgivable neglect of special schools for the physically and mentally needy and most bizarre, the neglect of the school for the gifted in Abuja.

    Our national languages already have documentation and research in Linguistic Departments as they face enough  neglect and extinction in homes at home and abroad especially among the community founded by fleeing Nigerians since the late 60’s- the JAPA COMMUNITY. However, right now, such a university will just be neglected even more by low or no budgets for documentation, library and archival facilities.

    Language learning equipment costs money but politicians prefer their government-paid-for jeeps.  Is a University of Nigerian Languages, costing several billions, though needed, our priority? That money could have provided in-and-out-of-school learning for millions of our 10+million shamefully out-of-school children. Even most in-school children are also deprived by the system of ‘adequate learning’ as testified to by the 40-90% JSS and SSS failure rates in some schools. After failure most are abandoned instead of being offered free ‘COACHING CLASSES’.

    Existing education edifices need a TINUBU EDUCATIONAL STIMULUS, NOT A TINUBU UNIVERSITY. With the coming AI great leap forward with ChatGPT, alias ‘Chat-JIBITI’ etc, the need for a physical university will disappear. 

  • Governors, EFCC and the Supreme Court

    Governors, EFCC and the Supreme Court

    We always knew that other Governors would be interested in the ongoing cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek, charade between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and former Governor of Kogi state, Yahaya Bello, over alleged embezzlement of Kogi state funds. What we did not know is that as many as 15 other Governors would join him in fighting the EFCC. It is interesting that, for twenty years, no Governor realised the alleged illegitimacy of the EFCC since it was established in 2004, except these 16 wise Governors.

    Officially, according to court records, Bello wants the Supreme Court to declare that the EFCC and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit operating within the Commission or any agency of the Federal Government cannot investigate, obtain records, invite, or arrest anyone concerning offenses arising from the administration and management of funds belonging to the state.

    Bello and the Governors joining his case think they have a legal basis to challenge the legality of the EFCC. According to them, the EFCC Act did not follow the provision of section 12 of the amended 1999 constitution, which requires the concurrence of majority of the state Houses of Assembly for the establishment of a treaty.

    The question is whether the EFCC Act is, indeed, a treaty, if by treaty is meant a formal agreement between two or more states (that is, countries). True, the establishment of the EFCC in 2002 was initially in response to pressure from an international organisation linked to the G7 group of countries to combat money laundering, for which Nigeria had been blacklisted, the Act was repealed in 2004 and replaced with the present one with a broad mandate to prosecute all kinds of financial crimes. There appears to be nothing in either the 2002 or the 2004 EFCC Act that makes it a treaty. At least, neither was an agreement that some other country had to sign, and the concurrence of any other country was not necessary for the Commission to carry out its work.

    But then, the Governors cited a precedent in which the Supreme Court alluded to Section 12 of the 1999 constitution, apparently in a similar case. It was the case of Dr. Joseph Nwobi vs Fereral Republic of Nigeria, in which the Supreme Court was said to have held that the EFCC Establishment Act emanated from a United Nations Convention against Corruption, without following the provision of Section 12 of the amended 1999 Constitution. As such, the Governors argued, the EFCC Act is illegal.

    True, the UN Convention against Corruption is a legally binding international anticorruption multilateral treaty, adopted in October 2003, it was not effective until 14 December 2005 apparently in order for participating countries to develop their own instruments for fighting corruption. Recourse to the UN was not required for such an instrument to be developed or to take effect. Nigeria already had an instrument in the EFCC Act of 2002. However, the Act was withdrawn and reenacted in June 2004 with a much broader mandate, and over a year before the UN Convention against Corruption became effective.

    A good reference point in this matter is the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States from which we borrowed our system of government. In Nigeria, there are federal offenses and there are state offenses. So it is in the United States. Like the EFCC in Nigeria, the FBI investigates all kinds of federal offenses, including corruption, wherever they may occur. In all countries, corruption is a federal offense. At least that is the import of the UN Convention against Corruption, which is now binding on all member states. But ever before the UN Convention in question, the FBI has been investigating and charging offenders of all kinds in the United States.

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    When it comes to corruption alone, Legislators, Governors, and Mayors, have been indicted and found guilty of corruption, following FBI investigations. At least four past Governors of the State of Illinois have gone to prison on corruption charges, following FBI investigations, namely, Otto Kerner (1961-1968); Daniel Walker (1973-1977); George Ryan (199-2003) and Rod Blagojevich (2003-2009). As recently as July 2024, a New Jersey Senator, Robert Menendez, was indicted, and found guilty of corruption, while the FBI has referred the case of Mayor Eric Adams of New York City to a Grand Jury.

    Interestingly, while our Governors are busy fussing over the legality of the EFCC, the FBI was created in the Department of Justice by Attorney General Charles Bonaparte on July 26, 1908 as Bureau of Investigation. He did not even notify Congress about it until December of that year. It was renamed Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935. In contrast to our use and drop hiring practice, one man, J. Edgar Hoover, was the Director of the FBI for 48 years (1924-1972) under eight Presidents (4 Democrats and 4 Republicans). The present FBI building was named after him to commemorate his long unblemished service. Today, the FBI has a much broader range of activities than the EFCC, and it carries out its activities across the globe, even here in Nigeria. Yet, no politician or anyone for that matter has questioned the legality of its creation.

    The case before the Supreme Court is beyond the legality of the EFCC. There is the question of the public good that has resulted from EFCC’s work in over 20 years. What about corrupt officials, who have been indicted by the EFCC, and jailed for corruption? What about the funds and property recovered from them? What about ongoing cases involving many Governors, including Bello? And what about the pyschological relief that at least the EFCC has been able to hold some officials to account?

    I am sure our Governor-Plaintiffs are aware of all this. Which is why observers think there is a hidden script behind their official posture. They may be afraid that the axe may soon fall on them like Yahaya Bello. After all, they have been under public scrutiny lately over their use of palliative funds and the huge federal allocations to the states. Not a few also think that they may be fighting back over the direct financial link established recently between the Federal Government and the Local Government Areas in their states. Otherwise, why would they join Bello in crying over the legality of a 20-year-old EFCC? The Supreme Court consists of citizens who live their lives in this country. They are aware of this prank too.

  • Life in the time of fake news (2)

    Life in the time of fake news (2)

    The lifespan of a lie can be quite elastic depending on how intricately it is woven. Some can be buried for years, but in the age of social media it can be brutally short.

    That is why I am often confused as to the motivations of purveyors of fake news who know they can be found out in a matter of minutes or hours.

    While the creators have their dubious agenda, those who spread the lies – especially online – probably do so with some advantage in mind.

    Desperate bloggers and website owners who want to attract traffic to their sites would push out the most sensational of stories without subjecting same to the most basic journalistic tests. Even when there are rebuttals that soon expose their lies, they lack the basic decency of acknowledging they goofed. They carry on posting more garbage like nothing happened, just because there’s no consequence for their impunity.

    The more excitable amongst us – especially those who are convinced that Nigeria is the worst country on earth – can’t wait to post the latest bad news as validation of their beliefs. They are only too glad to share their garbage with gullible hordes who have become bad news junkies. So what, on the surface, looks like a manifestation of extreme insanity, clearly has method to it.

    These days the internet, especially social media, has become a sea of lies. It’s not just swimming with barefaced bull, it’s the headquarters of ignorance. Headlines lie, photos and videos tell even bigger lies. The wicked and mischievous can lift a photograph from five years ago and use it to drive a story in a similar context today. The reader would swear he saw the pictures with his own eyes until a rebuttal knocks him back to reality.

    Beginning with the election campaign that threw up Donald Trump as US president, fake news has become a multimillion dollar global industry relentlessly deployed for political ends. Nigerians, quick to pick up on global trends no matter how diabolical – have not been slow to jump on the bandwagon.

    During the 2023 general elections it seemed there was a competition by liars to outdo themselves on social media. Perhaps anticipating the impact that the phenomenon could have in determining the outcome of the electoral contest, then Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, launched a campaign against fake news. It was a non-starter that was quickly brushed aside by malevolent forces who thrive best in polarised environments such as our

    The inauguration ceremonies at federal and state levels following the polls provided another fertile ground for fake news merchants to wreak their usual havoc. While the lies exposed the levels of bitterness and hate in our society, they also made for hilarity just imagining what the mischief-makers were trying to achieve.

    Seventeen months after that bitter electoral contest, and smack in the middle of a cost of living crisis, the purveyors of lies and ignorance appear to have gotten second wind. Everything and everyone is fair game. Truth has become stranger than fiction. The fictive is the new normal. People just want to believe a lie: it appeals to their need to expect the worst. It feeds their self-pitying side. And boy, in today’s Nigeria, the pity party is in overdrive.

    Here are a few examples from different areas of national life showing that whatever values we once held dear are being swept aside by this strange malaise.

    Ever since he unleashed his economic reforms, delivering in the process a cocktail bitter medicine a society long run on impunity has been gagging on, he’s become everyone’s whipping boy. Everything he does must be thrashed by the embittered. Imagine how all hell was let loose by his decision to take a two-week annual leave in the United Kingdom.

    We were told it was unheard of that a country’s leader would holiday in a different land. When is the British Prime Minister coming to vacation in Nigeria, some asked mockingly. You could argue about the wisdom of taking a break at this period, but only the ignorant would say the president cannot take a break in another country.

    Former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak whilst in office took a break in California, United States. One of his predecessors, Theresa May, favoured the Swiss Alps. David Cameron enjoyed exotic climes like Ibiza, while Tony Blair once took his break in Barbados. Even the famed Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher, found time to unwind in Corsica. The list is endless.

    From the ignorant to the downright mischievous. We’ve seen recently how anyone who’s ever come within breathing distance of disgraced rap mogul, P. Diddy, have had their reputation thrashed with insinuations about untoward conduct – especially of the sexual variety.

    One of Nigeria’s biggest musical exports, Burna Boy, found himself at the receiving end when some influencer called Speedy Darlington, suggested his Grammy win was down to services rendered to the embattled American hip hop star. An unamused Burna promptly got him clamped in detention for defamation. It took a video of his accuser’s mother weeping and begging mercy for her only son to melt the heart of the singer. From the the sorry look on the face of the poster, it didn’t appear like he had anything to back his wild allegation, save for a desperate craving for notoriety.

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    Respected General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, found himself in the eye of the storm recently after innocuously apologizing for having said non-tithers won’t go to heaven. By the time his comments went viral, they came out as though he had renounced tithing as doctrine. The old man was forced into a second round of clarifications within days while the online hordes celebrated like they just bagged an almighty scalp.

    There’s nothing wrong with having a discussion or debate about Christian doctrine. But there’s everything wrong with twisting the words of a man you disagree with just to malign him. There’s everything wrong with twenty and thirty-year-olds hurling insults at an 80-year-old over an argument, the fundamentals of which they have little grasp of.

    From one senior citizen to another. In the last few days, social media has been awash with reports that Pastor Shyngle Wigwe, father of the late and lamented Access Bank GCEO, Herbert Wigwe, had filed suit demanding 25% of his assets in a dispute over the execution of his will.

    Again, once the reports went viral, not many took time to consider whether this sort of demand was something the 90-year-old cleric and retired civil servant, would be involved with. They took to pontificating and passing judgment on the man and his family; others lectured on how the deceased banker should have taken care of his extended family to avoid the unseemly public fight over money.

    It turns out it was all fake news. Pastor Wigwe has denied the claims with grace and challenged the righteous army on social media to visit the court registry to confirm the true picture. In the meantime, who pays for the emotional damage done to the family?

    We take our last example from Ondo State where the governorship election to pick Rotimi Akeredolu’s successor would be holding in a matter of weeks. Predictably, the contestants are deploying everything to win. Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa found himself having to fend off abuse allegations after a doctored video of his lookalike went viral. It certainly wouldn’t be the last of such attacks before voters go to the polls.

    For all their entertainment value, fake news represent a cancer that can tear a volatile multi-religious and multi-ethnic society like ours apart. Such reports can trigger devastating damage that rebuttals that come hours after cannot mend. Even worse, those who act on the strength of the initial account may never get to read the denials.

    Aside being a clear and present danger to our collective security, fake news erode trust in an environment where people desperately need to trust one another and those who govern them.

    That is why the government – executive branch and legislature – must make the fight against fake news a priority. The key challenge remains how to fashion checks that can overcome the blackmail that they are an attempt to circumscribe free speech. The traditional media, especially, has existential reasons to be part of this effort.

    Those who generate fake news and those who gladly spread the poison should be made to pay a steep price. It is the least we can do to stave off tragedies somewhere in the future.

    • This piece is an updated version of an article published in The Nation on June 2, 2019.
  • Palliative ownership; Dangerous dams; Pensions 

    Palliative ownership; Dangerous dams; Pensions 

    Nigerian politicians need to meet and agree to hand Nigeria back to Nigerians, politically and financially. Election rigging deprives citizens of their voting choice. Corrupt governance deprives the citizens of Social Development Goal (SDG) targets. Together they are the bane of citizenry and budgets. Nigerian politicians have caused enough deceit and problem in their ‘Command and Control Strategies’ over the citizenry.   A key hurtful example in the ‘Nigerian Political Power Game’ is the ‘Donation Game’ in which, while supervising the ‘misplacement’ of billions, they insultingly announce ‘I, Governor/Senator/Representative so-and-so Donate XYZ TO ABC’…’ when it should be ‘Our People Donate through me the sum of …’ Please let us ridicule, call out and ban nationwide, the illegal personalisation of publicly owned funds disbursed to the citizens and especially Constituency Project funds.

    Please and please, LGAs, states, federal government at ministerial, MDAs and Presidency and political wives should desist from the scandalous ‘take-over of public resources’ by boastfully branding palliatives with personalised photographs and names of LGA and SCDA chairmen, , senators and representatives, state governors ministers, heads of MDAs and even the vice president and president and even the SCDAs. It is not their money or material to give away. It is the citizens’ money being channelled back to the citizenry. The picture on the palliatives should be absent or a ‘Not for sale’ stamp. The name on the palliatives should be ‘Fellow Nigerians’ or ‘Citizens of Nigeria’. Constituency projects should be scrapped. Nigerians, not politicians, own palliatives. Politicians are merely the messenger and must not claim the ownership or credit.

    Of course, this will not stop corruption in Nigeria but is an essential step in politicians giving up ‘illegal and corrupt ownership of public funds’. It is not their money for them to spend. It is our money, not to be used as yet another cheap political publicity stunt. After that step, just maybe, the political class will understand its sworn responsibility and then undertake the actions required for all levels of politics to ensure that the entire budget will be expended on projects and the citizenry. Only then will corruption be seen as an aberration instead of the current perception that ‘CORRUPTION IS THE CENTREPIECE OF POLITICAL DECISION MAKING AND ACTIONS’.    

    Now another 42 dead in Gbajibi village, Niger State mostly because of no life jacket or helpful waterways authority.  Sadly, there is tossing of responsibility for purchasing life jackets between governments, the canoe owners and the passengers. Whose responsibility is the life jackets? Please conclude. Looking at the canoes, the water level is less than six centimetres below the edge. Too small for rough weather. Do the canoes need redesign?

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    Dredging and clearing of refuse is always a far too late government response to an easily predictable flood. Why not more preventive measures? It is better to pre-empt floods. However, the tragic floods in Maiduguri displacing two million and costing billions in losses and hundreds of dead Fellow Nigerians and more recently in Lagos and now Ondo highlight the need for planned and executed preventive measures. Not all floods can be prevented, not all lives can be saved, but loss of life and property can be minimised by a ‘Disaster Prevention Plan’. Sadly, politicians see ‘Disaster Prevention Plans’ as being at the same level as ‘Monitoring’ and the much maligned ‘Maintenance’. These budgetary headings are 100% conduits for corruption as the funds are labelled ‘ETS’ Easy To Inflate or Steal’, often non-traceable and easy to steal or ‘divert’ to unknown avenues. For many years the murky waters around Nigeria’s dams have concealed much corruption as their [non]maintenance has been exploited maximally politically by those in charge of the budgets of the dangerous dams of Nigeria. It is unconscionable, irresponsible, criminally liable [except in Nigeria] for senior dam  authorities to publicly attest to the integrity of dams like the Maiduguri Dam which burst a few days after killing hundreds. IN FUTURE, DAM AUTHORITIES PERSONNEL SHOULD LIVE WITH THE PEOPLE BELOW THE DAM. It has come out that the Maiduguri dam was known to be compromised especially in the last two years. Politicians are so selfish that they think corruptly and ‘self-enrichment’ about everything, even decisions to reduce life-threatening outcomes. Disasters like bridge collapses, dam bursts, road disrepair and floods are collectively catastrophic over large areas and damage far more than just the structure.               

    Zamfara governor pays retirees since 2021 N9b pension areas. We thought such headlines were history. Past governors must be prosecuted for not paying pensions. Pensions are small and poorly index-linked especially for level 7 and below. Naira value makes pension arrears settlement using earned rates an ‘anti-citizen pension scam’ as N1000 in 2021 was $3 in 2021 but today it is $0.66 and this loss of value has rubbished the value of late pension payment which has caused economic and social disaster across Nigerian society and is a major excuse for the obvious greed and corrupt self-enrichment of particularly Nigeria’s civil servants. How many pensioners are dead because governors stole their pension funds years ago? After clearing arrears, governors must pay pensions as and when due. How many Nigerian pensioners are being disgraced before their families for being broke, unable to contribute to the education and maintenance of family members while politicians steal billions? 

    Over 600 citizens killed in Burkina Faso in one motorcycle bandit attack and bandits attack Katsina mosque. Danger all around!

  • On resistance to change

    On resistance to change

    “Convincing them to accept a better way of doing things was a mountainous challenge. You know the initial reaction to anything new is resistance. To convince civil servants to accept our reforms was a big challenge.”

    Folashade Yemi-Esan, speaking at the Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation in Abuja on September 27, 2024

    “I think the biggest challenge we have when we are driving reforms is the mindset and the resistance to change. Once you are used to a certain method, a certain way of doing things, a new method comes in and we are not ready to even give that new method an opportunity.”

    — Folashade Yemi-Esan, speaking at a programme in Abuja for the Partnership to Engage Reform and Learn (PERL), a public-sector accountability and governance programme funded by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) of the UK. on October 7, 2024

    Within the past two weeks, the former Head of Service of the Federation, Dr. Folashade Yemi-Esan, CFR, has been making the rounds, speaking about what she described as “my biggest challenge in service,” namely, resistance to change. It must be assumed from her speech that it was a problem she noticed throughout her service but which she particularly encountered while driving reforms as Head of Service.

    Reforms come to the civil service from two major sources: (a) from outside the service, often from the executive and other political officeholders and (b) from within the service, often initiated by the Head of Service or Department Heads, such as Permanent Secretaries or Directors. In most cases, government policies are the major drivers of reform. In some cases, the government may be motivated by external forces, including lender agencies, such as the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund, or by protests rejecting certain policies or the economic situation of the country.

    Resistance to change is a universal human trait, as Mrs. Yemi-Esan herself acknowledged. The critical issue is what to do to lessen or even eliminate resistance to change in the face of major reforms. This is particularly critical for the present administration, which introduced major economic reforms from which citizens, including civil servants themselves, have not recovered. Mrs Yemi-Esan had her job cut out for her as the Head of Service during the first year of the administration she served before she retired.

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    It is unclear from her speeches above what she did or did not do in implementing the new policies and how she solved the challenges she encountered in the process. Nevertheless, it is worth discussing some major strategies for avoiding resistance to change by civil servants and for managing it should it occur.

    Numerous factors drive resistance to reforms, including leadership style, communication effectiveness, involvement of civil servants in the implementation process, and implementation procedures,

    Resistance is typically the first response if the leader is viewed as a distant operator or a bully, rather than a facilitator, who protests and promotes the interests of subordinates. Similarly, resistance often greets a leader, who rams reform down the throat of subordinates, rather than take pains to explain the reasons for reform and ensure their participation even before starting the implementation. The more subordinates buy into the reasons for change, the easier it is to enlist their participation.

    Besides, communication is key to ensuring subordinates’ participation and effective implementation of reforms. “Do it this way” is different from “How about trying this other way?” Does the leader incorporate subordinates in the implementation discussions? If a committee was set up, how broad is the membership across the service in terms of gender, ethnicity, religion, rank, region or state?

    It is important to bear in mind that getting things done in today’s civil service is different from getting things done in corporate establishments. Reforms in corporations and the directives for their implementation are usually top-down, while similar processes in the civil service require across the board participation. This is due in part to differences in tenure procedure, unionisation, and the general conception of government job as one not worth maximum effort. So, why should one kill oneself doing it? This is a deep-seated attitude to work in the civil service that requires serious attention. A facilitating leader must be ready to provide incentives, show the benefits of effective participation in the process, while also alluding to the consequences of non-participation. They should be prevented from forming a clique or widening their influence.

    There are always dissenters and trouble mongers in the service. A good leader seeks ways to convert them by listening and appealing to them and offering alternative ways of taking part in the process.

    Given what we know of today’s civil service, reforms that will block their chances of greasing their palms may be resisted or poorly implemented. Such reforms include digitization of records and tightening of evaluation and accountability procedures. That’s why they sometimes created cumbersome rules and regulations, which seek to increase their allowances or otherwise make it easier for them to benefit from government policies

    Another factor behind civil service resistance is partisanship. Civil servants are supposed to be politically neutral. However, it is well known that they belong to various political parties, without necessarily obtaining party cards. Some civil servants are known to resist or thwart reforms introduced by political leaders who do not belong to their unspoken party. I came across one such Permanent Secretary in Osun state as a consultant to the state government. For every government policy relating to his ministry, he had a counter proposal, which led him to delay the implantation of a specific government approved policy.

    The confession of the former Head of Service about resistance to change in the civil service has implications for the present administration. How cooperative has the civil service been in implementing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic policies and evaluation procedures? Given the technological advancement of the administration’s record keeping practices, how computer literate are federal civil servants? Were they briefed about the reasons for the ongoing reforms and about the implementation processes? Have there been workshops for capacity building for various cadres of civil servants since the start of the present administration?

  • What’s the problem with Nigeria?

    What’s the problem with Nigeria?

    Yesterday, October I, Nigeria, by choice, under-celebrated the 64th anniversary of its existence as an independent nation. As usual, it was an occasion for many to mournfully chorus how a potentially great country has failed to rise to the levels expected of it. In good times and bad ones, incumbent governments try to put a positive spin on the state of the nation while marking the day. They reel out a litany of actions taken to make life better.

    These are not the best of times for a people who have been disappointed time and again by a succession of military and civilian administrations, so much so that they have become an army of cynics who expect the worst of anyone in power.

    Every new government comes to power labouring to please this audience; very few succeed in doing so. For the Bola Tinubu administration, it has been an even more daunting task because it chose not to conduct business as usual by its choice of policies. It’s not as if some of the ideas like removal of fuel subsidies and floatation of naira were so novel. What was new was knowing the likely consequences, the president chose to trudge down a path his predecessors fled from.

    Some former governors and ministers of a reformist persuasion have disclosed in recent times how they tried to press former President Muhammadu Buhari into removing the wasteful subsidies whilst still in power. They presented him unassailable statistics that made the case. He would grunt to show he understood the payments were impairing the nation’s finances, but resolutely refused to act for fear of the consequences.

    It would be charitable to believe his inaction was down to concern over the devastation it would bring to the country’s majority poor and, even, the middle class. The less charitable would suggest that having been traumatized by experiencing overthrow as a military head of state, he was wary of tempting the fates with a move that would most certainly have provoked social upheaval. So, did he do the right thing by postponing the evil day?

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    On January 1, 2012, then President Goodluck Jonathan’s new year gift to Nigerians was announcing removal of the infamous subsidies. The following day, protests under the Occupy Nigeria banner spread like a rash across the country. The 120% increase in petrol price was predictably accompanied by burning, looting and at least 16 deaths. The government buckled to defuse the situation.

    Interestingly, at the emergency meeting called to agree a u-turn two critical government officials who backed the controversial policy were noticeable absentees: Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and her Petroleum Affairs counterpart, Diezani Alison-Madueke. Reports back then claimed the former had threatened resignation if the decision to remove subsidies was reversed. Again, the government of the day had no stomach to push through what it was convinced was the right to do.

    The nation’s regurgitation of the bitter pill didn’t stop the successor Buhari government from carrying out some marginal price increase. But it was nowhere near the outright termination of subsidies around which a consensus had built.

    It would be another twelve years after Jonathan’s botched effort before Tinubu made his famous ‘subsidy is gone’ declaration at Eagle Square, Abuja, on May 29 last year. The direct fallout of that action along with the floatation of the naira has been a cost of living crisis the likes of which hasn’t been witnessed in this country for ages.

    Inflation is never popular anywhere and Nigeria isn’t unique in this regard. It doesn’t matter what the greater beneficial goal might be, people don’t want to pay higher taxes, or pay more for goods and services.

    That why in the US presidential election campaign Republican Party candidate Donald Trump continues to mount a strong challenge, despite his criminal conviction and character issues, because most Americans are unhappy about paying more for groceries and services. It’s the same challenge in Ghana and the United Kingdom.

    Tinubu’s critics, even those who during last year’s presidential election campaign vowed to remove subsidies from day one, have been rubbing their hands with glee over the administration’s battle containing the fallout. Their adolescent fun and games over a political rival’s troubles only shows their statements last year were insincere words designed only to win an election.

    They would have continued a system over which a respected economist and minister was ready to resign 12 years ago if it were continued; a system that was leading Nigeria to certain financial paralysis. How on earth does a country function with 97% debt service ratio and think that is normal? How do you pile up ways and means obligations to the tune of N30 trillion and expect there would be no consequences?

    The old lie was that fuel subsidy was the only thing the poor were benefiting from the country. In reality it did nothing for the millions living under or slightly above the poverty line, because many still contemptuously refer to us as taking over from India as the poverty capital of the world. So much for the joys of perpetual subsidies!

    What is wrong with Nigeria? The same labour unions who insist that government should have fixed refineries before pulling the plug on subsidy, infamously frustrated former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s bid, in the twilight of his reign, to offload the government-owned companies to private interests. They ensured that the Umaru Yar’Adua administration as one of its first acts in office reversed the policy.

    The same unionists who with populist posturing lash Tinubu for not waiting for the refineries to work, cannot explain why 17 years after they blocked the sale they are still out of commission. Meanwhile, between 2013 and now, Aliko Dangote, one of those who wanted to buy the refineries, has managed to build the world’s largest single train facility with the ability to process 650,000 barrels of crude per day. It is already selling petrol and diesel.

    If for over 25 years government refineries haven’t worked, who would guarantee a timeframe within which they would come alive. Would the country have survived financially until that uncertain time in the future? Those who have questions to answer are the lot who couldn’t fix the facilities for nearly three decades.

    Social impact is important but it shouldn’t be the only yardstick for judging the Tinubu reforms. No one knows what the consequences would have been for those who are hardest hit by the cost of living crisis in the event of a total economic collapse, which most certainly would happen, if we do nothing.

    While some focus on the pain, something is quietly happening across the landscape. Nigerians are paying unprecedented prices for petrol but are slowly adjusting to the new reality in different ways. That they are not on the streets wreaking havoc is subtle evidence of this adjustment.

    For years, we’ve had a sense of entitlement over oil; believing that because we produce crude we are entitled to enjoy cheap refined petrol which we don’t produce. We don’t make the same arguments over solid minerals, or expect to eat cheap chocolate because we export cocoa. Ultimately, petrol is just another product that should sell at the appropriate price.

    I have heard people retort angrily when comparisons of petrol price in other nations show ours isn’t the most expensive. They quickly ask what the minimum wage in those countries is. But simply economics tells us you fix prices by adding up cost of inputs, profit margin and other variables. You don’t bake a loaf of bread and check the national minimum wage before fixing the price.

    As we allow fuel prices to rise and fall like those of other products, government should intensify efforts at entrenching non-petrol driven transportation like CNG mass transit buses, intra-city metro, inter-state trains and electric cars. This would liberate the economy from the stranglehold where PMS prices automatically affect every other thing.

    Much of what Tinubu has implemented are things that administrations that came long ago thought were the right prescriptions for fixing a dysfunctional economic system. What was absent was the lack of political will. Well-meaning Nigerians should pray his policies work, the nation stabilizes and begins its journey to a prosperous place. The alternative would be a return to square one – not really an option when you consider how far we’ve traveled from that location in 16 months.

  • The story of cattle in religion and the economy

    The story of cattle in religion and the economy

    Cattle, a cover term for cows (female cattle) and bulls (male cattle), have played a key role in human societies. There are over 1,000 breeds of cattle worldwide, and they have served as a major source of meat, milk and other dairy products, as well as leather. However, the handling of cattle and their place in religion, the economy, and class formation varies from society to society. From ancient times, cattle have played a major role in many religions, for example, in ancient Egypt, Rome, Greece and the Indian subcontinent. Perhaps the most famous religious role of cattle today is India, where cows are sacred, being objects of religious veneration.

    In other societies, such as Uruguay in South America and Botswana in Southern Africa, cattle are central to the national economy. In many societies, cattle have also played a significant role in class formation. In his Cattle, Capitalism, and Class (published in 1992), a former colleague, Peter Rigby, showed how cattle rearing changed the Massai of Uganda, a hitherto classless society, into a class society, by creating wealth for cattle owners and establishing social distance between them and the rest of the population.

    The examples of India, Uruguay, and Botswana provide interesting examples of variations in the handling of cattle and its place in society. All three cases provide interesting lessons for Nigeria.

    The mythology of the sanctity of cows in India has its origins in Hindu religion whose adherents believe that cows are representative of divine and benevolent forces. They are therefore to be protected and venerated. During the colonial period, the protection of cows was used by Hindus as a symbol of Hindu unification and differentiation from Muslims. This toxic mix of politics, religion, and ethnicity grew more problematic as India prepared for independence in 1947. It eventually led to the partition of the country between the majority Hindus and the minority Urdu-speaking Muslims, who now occupy Pakistan.

    Over time, the Indian government, especially at the regional level, became involved in the politicisation of cows, by prohibiting the slaughter of cattle and the consumption of beef. That is why, today, cows roam Indian streets in Hindu strongholds. However, despite the widespread notion of the sacred cow in India, there are states in the country where cow slaughter and consumption are permitted.

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    In many contemporary societies, the economic role of cattle has overshadowed their place in religion. A good example is Uruguay, where cattle are the mainstay of the economy with cows outnumbering people by 4 to 1. Yet, cows do not destroy crops or block traffic on the roadways, because every cow farmer in the country operates within a gated ranch.

    As I pointed out in an article for The Punch newspaper in 2018 (see Ranching is the best solution, The Punch, January 23, 2018), the Uruguay government’s intervention is limited to policy and technology. Rather than establish a Ministry of Livestock, the Uruguay government established a ranching policy and assisted farmers in developing the world’s first completely computerised traceability system. Each new calf is electronically tagged on one ear with a readable chip, which contains all manner of information about the animal. The chip is uploaded from time to time with new information about the animal. This allows consumers worldwide to know exactly where their beef comes from and how it was raised.

    On the African continent, Botswana provides another example where cattle are raised for consumption and export. Today, they are one of Botswana’s major exports. Ranching was adopted long ago to end conflicts between cattle herders and local farmers as they converged on the Okavango Delta region and the Limpopo River basin and its tributaries.

    Today, the cattle population in Botswana is nearly three million, about the size of the Botswana population. With efficient management of cattle, Botswana today is the largest producer and exporter of meat in Africa. One iconic use of cattle in Botswana was the One Man, One Beast fund-raising appeal by the late President Seretse Khama in 1976 for the construction of the Botswana University campus, which was opened in 1982. In addition to cattle, grain (especially sorghum), eggs, and raw cash were also donated until enough funds were raised. In recognition of this fund-raising appeal, the statue of a man and cattle stands in front of the university library, while the university logo is shaped like a shield with an open book, a cattle head, and sorghum.

    Despite the iconic status of cattle, diamond accounts for more than 60 percent of Botswana’s exports, while copper, nickel, beef, and textiles account for the remaining 40 percent. The country is rated as the largest diamond exporter in the world by value, and the second largest by volume. Once one of the poorest countries in Africa, Botswana is now one of the fastest growing economies on the continent. With a buoyant economy and a stable, uninterrupted, democracy since independence in 1966, Botswana today is the highest ranked country in Africa on both the Human Development and Corruption Perception Indices. It all boils down to the leaders’ effective management of its major resources.

    Cattle may not have been directly linked to religion in Nigeria as in India, but Nigerian cattle owners are predominantly Muslim with a distinct ethnicity. Both markers are often invoked when herders clash with farmers of different ethnicities even within the same state. Although herder-farmer clashes have subsided, especially in the South, banditry and cattle rustling still rage in the North, where the ongoing conflicts between Hausa landowners and Fulani cattle owners are based on historical injustices. It is unclear how far the newly created Ministry of Livestock will solve the problem, but it is at least a government response.

    For years, ranching was proposed as a better alternative to pastoralism, but Nigerian Fulani cattle owners have rebuffed the suggestion on the argument that pastoralism is their way of life. Such an argument is viewed as mere façade. Some have argued that the real reasons behind pastoralism today are (a) climate change, which has decimated grazing areas in the North and (b) a hidden agenda of territorial expansion.

    The truth is that Nigeria has lessons to learn from Uruguay and Botswana in cattle rearing and profit-making practices. There are also lessons to learn from Botswana’s management of mining resources, democratic practices, and purposeful governance. It is within these contexts that the Nigerian government should consider the recent invitation by the Botswana High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ms Philda Nani Kereng, for bilateral trade relations with Botswana.